Maurizio Sarri was careful to issue words of caution early in the season as Chelsea roared off to a winning start, saying there was much work to be done by the squad before they reached the levels of ‘Sarriball’ that he achieved last season with Napoli. The one man who was meant to help speed up that process was Jorginho, the man who he brought along from Italy to play at the base of a midfield three in his 4-3-3 formation. Jorginho oozes class and perfectly fits the fast-paced, short passing philosophy that his manager loves to play, yet he hasn’t been able to achieve the same amount of control this campaign, and it is costing his Chelsea team.

His production in many key areas has dropped this season on both the attacking and defensive ends. Sarri’s style is predicated on quick, short passes, and Jorginho’s role is essentially that of a conductor, as he carefully drives the team forward. While his passing average of 88.9 per 90 minutes is still incredibly high (just about twice the league average of 45 for central midfielders), it is significantly lower than the 100+ he averaged over the course of his Napoli tenure. And it’s not just the number of passes, he is also being less incisive with those balls. His key passes have fallen from 1.7 in his last season at Napoli all the way down to just 0.6 during this campaign. Rather than looking for that defense-splitting pass, he too often finds himself just playing the simple, square ball. On the defensive side, his interceptions – a key stat for a smaller player like him in this position – have declined sharply from an average of above 2 during his Napoli days to just 1.1. Just for reference, N’Golo Kanté averaged 2.5 during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge when he was playing that deeper role.

Sarri has a very distinct and defined way he wants his team to play, and with the departure of Cesc Fabregas, Jorginho is the only player Sarri deems capable of playing that pivot role, as he doesn’t believe N’Golo Kanté has the requisite technical abilities for the job. The Italian midfielder’s arrival was meant to expedite the squad’s learning curve to the new manager, but, ironically, his slow start in adjusting to English football is costing the team’s development. At his best, Jorginho can make a Sarri team look invincible with the way he moves the ball around and nips it away from the opposition, but right now he is winning the ball back less and doing less with it when he has it. He will need to rediscover his form from last year, and fast, if Chelsea are to hold off Arsenal and Manchester United for the Top 4.